Filmmakers and Media Professionals
The Chicago International Children's Film Festival is a project of Facets Multi-Media; a non profit organization dedicated to the exhibition and distribution of foreign, independent and classic cinema. The Festival is the largest annual festival of films for children in the world and features 250 of the best films for children from 40 countries. Programming live action and animated features, shorts, TV series, documentaries, as well as child-produced works, the Festival is one of the most unique festivals in the country, showcasing the best in culturally diverse, non-violent, value affirming new cinema for children. The Chicago International Children's Film Festival is also honored to be the only children's film festival selected to be an Academy Award® Qualifying Festival.
Films placed in competition are then seen by both the Adult and Children's Juries. The Festival's Children's Jury is comprised of kids ages 7-14 who have participated in Facets Kids Film Camp teaching theory, critique & basic production skills. The Festival's Adult Jury consists of filmmakers, critics, educators, child-development specialists and parents. Films screened in competition are eligible for prizes in over a dozen award categories.
The Festival welcomes over 25,000 Chicago area children, adults, and educators to the screenings, and over 100 filmmakers, media professionals & celebrities attend the Festival to lead interactive workshops with kids. Interactive workshops comprise an important part of the CICFF’s mission to make media a participatory rather than a passive experience. Past attendees include: Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), animators from LAIKA Studios (makers of Coraline), Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, The Young Victoria), LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jane Seymour (Wedding Crashers), Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters), Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner’s Daughter); Terry Jones (Monty Python’s Flying Circus); and film critic Roger Ebert.
The Festival operates a small but dynamic market for foreign and U.S. distributors, buyers and festival programmers welcoming representatives from Miramax, Tribeca Film Festival, Starz!/Encore, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, AMPAS, Little Airplane Productions, Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the National Gallery of Art, and many other national and international organizations who attended the Festival to scout films for possible distribution or presentation rights. Through the ProPass program the Festival is the source of programming for scores of other children’s film events worldwide.
Accreditation
The Chicago International Children's Film Festival offers accreditation to filmmakers with film in the current year's Festival, as well as a special ProPass for media professionals such as distributors & programmers. Please contact Kathleen Beckman at kidsfest@facets.org or CLICK HERE for more info.
